LSU absorbs second straight SEC loss, 74-52 against a Florida buzzsaw

On the list of long-term goals for the LSU basketball program, one of them is likely being capable of playing a Final Four-caliber team off its feet. The Tigers aren't there yet, and Florida showed that in resounding fashion Saturday at the Peter Maravich Assembly Center.

Despite starting the game without one starter and losing another right before halftime -- not to mention a few other key players toiling with aches and pains -- the No. 11-ranked Gators found their rhythm when they needed to and bracketed the end of the first half and start of the second with damaging spurts on the way to a 74-52 triumph.

LSU absorbed its worst loss of the season and fell to 0-2 in the SEC. It wasn't because the Tigers (9-4 overall) didn't play hard or with energy with a spirited crowd at the PMAC urging them on.

Instead, this setback was more the product of a talented, deep and focused Florida crew clicking and executing at a high level most of the day.

?"I think we played not only one of the best basketball teams in our conference, but one of the best teams in the country (Saturday)," Tigers coach Johnny Jones said.

No argument after the best team LSU has played put together one of the more complete performances the Tigers have contended with this season.

You want defense? Florida smothered the Tigers all over the floor and limited them to a season-worst 32.3% shooting performance (21 of 65) and even worse from beyond the 3-point arc, 25% (6 of 24).

Rebounding? The Gators dominated the glass 53-34.

And while the offense struggled in the first 20 minutes - LSU's defense deserves plenty of credit for that - Florida adjusted in the second half and shot 53.3% (16 of 30) after halftime to pull away.

"It was tough," center Andrew Del Piero said. "I think the toughest thing is that they had such a deep bench. They had people coming in one after another and that will really wear you down at the end."

That was without guard Mike Rosario, who was ruled out before the game with an ankle sprain, and forward Casey Prather, who hurt his ankle right before the half and had to be helped to the locker room and never returned.

It wasn't so much depth that flipped the game around as it was the Gators' execution.

LSU had fought and clawed to stay close for the initial 14 1/2 minutes by matching Florida's defensive prowess. Both teams shot poorly early on, and the result was a 19-19 deadlock when Shavon Coleman drove the lane for a shot at the 5:38 juncture before halftime.

The Tigers missed a couple of chances to retake the lead when bad passes from Charles Carmouche and Corban Collins resulted in turnovers on back-to-back trips. Scottie Wilbekin put the Gators on top when he sliced through the Tigers' defense for a rare uncontested shot, and that lit the fuse on 10-2 burst that created a 29-20 halftime cushion.

Afterward, LSU point guard Anthony Hickey said the Gators punched the Tigers with that run and they needed to respond.

That didn't happen, at least not soon enough.

Instead, LSU missed its first three floor shots of the second period -- all one-and-dones -- and Florida seized advantage with a Patrick Young bucket inside Boynton's driving shot on a second-shot chance and then back-to-back 3-pointers from Boynton and Erik Murphy in transition.

Hickey buried one of his three treys in the middle of that to end an 8:20 Tigers field-goal drought. But the two Florida 3s ballooned the lead to 39-23 and forced Jones to call a timeout.

Nothing stopped the bleeding, though.

Coleman scored inside on a feed from Andre Stringer to keep the deficit at 16, but after a media timeout, the Gators uncorked nine unanswered points, the last on Will Yeguete's stickback -- two of Florida's 14 second-chance points.

Added together, the blitz to end the first half and the dominant beginning to the second came to a 31-6 stretch. As good as the Gators were in that span, LSU missed 17 of 19 floor shots (6 of 7 from long range) and didn't produce points on consecutive possessions for almost 17 minutes.

"They had good size on them, but we were just missing shots," said Coleman, who was 5-of-13 from the floor. Hickey was the only Tiger who hit 50% or better at 6-of-12. "We had wide-open shots. They contested some shots, but we just missed some shots."

Even with the offensive struggled, though, the Tigers made a nice lunge at Florida after falling behind 50-25, the largest deficit of the season.

Hickey ignited a rally with a 3-pointer off the dribble and Stringer went coast-to-coast for a baseline drive to prompt a Billy Donovan timeout.

LSU came out in a full-court press and it clicked, with Hickey forcing back-to-back steals that led to layups and Malik Morgan knocking another ball loose and passing to Coleman for a 3 from the left corner to cap a 12-0 Tiger scoring binge.

Suddenly it was 50-37, the largest PMAC crowd of the season was alive and hope was flickering -- memories conjured up of stirring comebacks against Seton Hall and Marquette.

"For these guys to come in here against a good LSU team and find a way to win, I think is impressive because when you look at their team, they've had a history here of being a really good comeback team," Donovan said. "They did it against Seton Hall here and won down 16. They were down by 21 at Marquette and tied the game. This has been a pattern for their team, and I felt even when we got up they were going to make a run at us."

Murphy stemmed the comeback, though, when he jacked on a 3-pointer. One of the Gators' walking wounded (broken rib), Murphy's shot deflated the crowd and the Tigers. Del Piero provided a slam-dunk on the next possession, but LSU didn't score over the ensuing 3:04, missing five shots in a row as the Gators expanded the lead back to 61-39.

That response was emblematic of the day for Florida. Every time the Tigers were poised to storm back, the Gators' defense cranked up the heat. And it wasn't one or two players -- the defense was smothering all over the floor.

"They bring pressure all the way up 1-to-5," Hickey said. "They were able to switch and get length out on the frontcourt and on the bigs."

One of those LSU big men particularly struggled.

Sophomore forward Johnny O'Bryant played 12 minutes in the first half, but only the first 2 of the second. He was 1-for-8 from the floor and still seemed out of sync as he works his way back from a high ankle sprain.

With O'Bryant ineffective, Del Piero picked up some of the slack with 7 points and 5 rebounds. But it's clear the Tigers need O'Bryant to play better, especially in the rebounding department.

"Johnny ain't all the way 100 (per cent) yet," Hickey said. "It's all about getting him better every day.? He will get better."

Hickey led the Tigers with 15 points, 4 assists and 4 steals. Coleman scored 11 and snared 5 boards.

LSU was hurt by Stringer and Carmouche combining for only 9 points, although Carmouche led the team with 6 rebounds. Boynton led the Gators with 20 points, and Yeguete recorded a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Up next is a home game with South Carolina (10-5), which also dipped to 0-2 in the SEC with a 74-71 home loss to Auburn on Saturday.

"I think we're a team that understands that we have a lot of room for growth," Jones said. "We feel that the things that happened and transpired (Saturday), we can fix. We feel like we've got guys that can continue to improve and areas that we can continue to get better at. We can execute better on the offensive end. We can do a better job of making sure we strike and rebound the ball better."?

BOX SCORE

Source: http://www.nola.com/lsu/index.ssf/2013/01/lsu_absorbs_second_sec_loss_74.html

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